The Animal That Looks Like a Llama (But is Really an Alpaca)

Also present in the image: He Xie (2011) and Grapes (2014). At first glance, the wallpaper’s pattern looks merely decorative, but a closer inspection reveals a kaleidoscopic arrangement of motifs representative of Ai Weiwei’s social, political, and artistic life. Surveillance cameras, handcuffs, and lengths of rebar evoke Ai’s struggle against the Chinese state after the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008. Ai’s call for government transparency on the student deaths caused by collapsed schools lead to restrictions on his personal freedom, including arrests, detentions, and constant surveillance. The Twitter birds and the alpaca are symbolic of social media and Chinese Internet culture. In China, the caonima (alpaca) sounds similar to “fuck your mother” and has become an Internet meme representative of free speech.